Apparatuses and methods for acoustic and current manipulation of anode interface deposits in lithium anode batteries and other battery systems

ABSTRACT

Improved battery systems, apparatuses, and methods for use in electric air, land, and marine vehicles and mobile, portable, and stationary electrical appliances and devices are provided. The systems employ acoustic and current manipulation of anode interface deposits including dendrites on or proximate lithium and other anodes. This invention may employ multistatic ultrasonic phased arrays and current modulation to 1) minimize deposit, e.g., dendrite, initiation and formation by acoustic stirring, 2) acoustically image dendritic growths to monitor changes in dendrite growths, 3) cue dendrite cleaning and battery shutdown to avoid short circuit, 4) induce failure in dendritic structure and shearing of at least a portion of the dendrite from the anode, and 5) transport sheared dendrites and other dead metal to a graveyard.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The application is a divisional application of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 17/060,980 filed Oct. 1, 2020, which claims the benefit of andpriority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. Nos. 62/911,350filed Oct. 6, 2019, and 62/706,834, filed Sep. 13, 2020, each of whichis incorporated herein by reference in its entireties.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention

The present invention generally relates to batteries and electricvehicles and electrical devices including batteries with improvedperformance. More specifically, the present invention is directed tobattery systems, apparatuses and methods and electric vehicle andelectrical device including batteries and battery systems that enablecontrol of dendritic growths and other deposits on the anode, such aslithium and graphite anodes, using acoustic energy and current densitymodulation.

Background Art

Modern society is increasingly become location independent. This trendhas accelerated as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Locationindependence is fueled by many technological advances including wirelesscommunication and battery technologies. The pace of this trend isdependent upon continued improvements in battery technology.

Lithium anode batteries have the potential to deliver both high specificenergy and high energy density. However, the full potential of Li-metalanode batteries has been difficult to achieve due to electrodepositsgenerally, and dendritic growths specifically, that form during thecharge cycle resulting in reduced Coulombic and energy efficiency.Further, when dendritic growths bridge between anode and cathode thebattery cell short-circuits to thermal runaway and potential ignition ofthe electrolyte.

Lithium ion deposition is ideally uniform across the solid electrolyteinterphase (SEI) region of the anode during the charging cycle. Dendriteformation is known to be initiated by surface inhomogeneities, defects,contaminants, and electro-chemical gradients that depart from theirideal configuration.

Despite decades of persistent research, the dendritic growth problemremains. One approach is to mechanically block dendrite growth. Onemethod replaces the liquid electrolyte with a strong solid polymer. Theobjective is to select an electrochemical compatible solid polymer whoseshear modulus is higher than crystalline lithium. Another approach hasbeen to apply an external mechanical force antipodal to the path ofdendritic growths.

The mechanical approaches to block dendritic growths have had limitedsuccess. Electro-deposited crystalline lithium pillars with <1 microndiameter have an average shear modulus greater than 6 MPa and an averageyield stress 16 MPa. To block these forces the nanopore separator andthe base bulk lithium anode must have superior and uniform mechanicalproperties across its surface to avoid anode deformation that leads tothe formation of deposit growths and dendrites.

Another approach introduces acoustic waves to promote mixing andhomogenization of the electrolyte in an attempt to slow dendriticgrowths. Unfortunately, both active and inactive electrodepositscontinue to form, reducing battery capacity and Coulombic efficiency.

The persistent problem of dendrites is not limited to Li-metal anodebatteries. As such, there is a continuing need for batteries with higherefficiencies and a longer functional life. This need for improvedbattery performance continues to grow more acute with each day associety becomes more mobile, relying on electronic devices that dependupon the performance of batteries.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention addresses the above noted needs for batterysystems, apparatuses, and methods with improved performance that enablehigher performance battery powered electric air, land, and marinevehicles and mobile, portable, and stationary electrical appliances anddevices. Systems, apparatuses and methods of the present inventionemploy acoustic energy and current density modulation to induce andpromote dendrite structural failure and detachment from the anode and/orsolid electrolyte interface. In addition, the acoustic energy may beemployed to stir the electrolyte, image and locate both active andinactive deposits, detach or shear connected deposits from the anode,and transport the sheared deposits to a location that decreases thedisruption of efficient ion diffusion.

Apparatuses may employ multistatic ultrasonic phased arrays and currentdensity modulation. The methods may include beam steering to arbitrarilyposition and sweep, or oscillate, acoustic generated pressure traps in a3D volume. Simultaneously, current density control induces crystallinedefects and softening during electrodeposition to facilitate dendriteshearing.

The present invention may be used with batteries in whichelectrodeposits form during the charging cycle. The systems andapparatuses may implement one or more of the following processes toreduce the impact on dendritic growth on battery performance:

1. stirring of the electrolyte to minimize dendritic initiation andformation,

2. imaging dendritic growths to,

-   -   a. monitor changes in dendrite growths,    -   b. cue dendrite cleaning,    -   c. cue battery shutdown to avoid short circuit,

3. inducing failure in, and removal, of dendritic growths sheared, ordisconnected, from the anode, and

4. transporting sheared, or disconnected, growths from the anode regionto improve ion diffusion relative to the anode,

3D imaging of electrodeposits and growths on the anode and in theelectrolyte above the anode and below the nanopore separator may beperformed. Acoustic energy may be used to oscillate a pressure trap,formed with steep pressure gradients, around the dendrites, resulting indeposit disconnection from the anode.

The processor may control one or more electronically steered ultrasonicarrays to image, monitor, and attain a clear transport path to agraveyard for disconnected deposits by steering pressure traps to avoiddisruption to the solid electrolyte interface and to locate, transport,and track disconnected deposits, e.g., dead lithium, to the graveyard tomaintain ion diffusion and minimize the loss of battery cell capacity.The pressure traps that may be located anywhere in the 3D field of viewof the electronically steered ultrasonic arrays and may havecustomizable depth, breadth, and pressure gradients.

The electronically steered ultrasonic arrays may have steering vectorformation methods that include near-field steering, and adaptivebeamforming methods to make arbitrarily wide null beams by multistaticintersections of the null beams and to reduce local minima and artifactsby application of a fast-time common mode phase shift offset to one moremultistatic steering vectors.

The electronically steered ultrasonic arrays may be a single,multistatic, and/or conformal electronically steered piezo-electricmicromachined ultrasonic transducers arrays. Multiple electronicallysteered multistatic ultrasonic arrays may be used to compensate fordendrite blockages by Boolean association of geographically diversesubarrays exploiting the sparseness of convolution, time domain MIMO,etc.

While the description may focus primarily on exemplary lithium-metal andgraphite anode batteries, the systems, apparatuses, and methods areapplicable to any battery cathode/anode liquid electrolyte system thatexhibits charge cycle electrodeposition on the anode, such as batterysystems based on lithium, potassium, sodium, magnesium, copper, or zincions. Anode types include bulk lithium, graphite, graphite combined withsilicon-metal alloys such as SiO_(x), TiO_(x), and NiO_(x), andtransition metal oxides, such as Cr₂O₃, MnO₂, Fe₂O₃, Co₃O₄, CuO.Cathodes types include lithium nickel cobalt manganese oxide (NMC),lithium iron phosphate (LFP), lithium nickel manganese spinel (LNMO),lithium nickel cobalt aluminum oxide (NCA), lithium manganese oxide(LMO), and lithium cobalt oxide (LCO).

Accordingly, the present disclosure addresses the continuing need forbatteries with improved performance and longer useful life.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings are included for the purpose of exemplaryillustration of various aspects of the present invention to aidexplanation and understanding, and not for purposes of limiting theinvention, wherein:

FIG. 1 shows an exemplary battery system including a battery cell andits components in a discharge circuit;

FIG. 2 s an exemplary electronically steered ultrasonic 2D array;

FIG. 3 shows exemplary embodiments with two multistatic 2D arrayspositioned on orthogonal walls of the battery cell;

FIG. 4 depicts an example of the solid electrolyte interphase;

FIG. 5 shows an exemplary morphology of dendrites growing in a saltdepleted electrolyte at high charging current density;

FIG. 6 shows a dendrite subjected to antipodal forces;

FIG. 7 shows standing wave pressure nodes and antinode change positionswhen the frequency is changed;

FIG. 8 depicts an illustration of dead lithium accumulation;

FIG. 9 depicts an exemplary transport path to move dead lithium to agraveyard;

FIG. 10 shows exemplary battery power systems embodiments;

FIG. 11 shows exemplary embodiments with four electronically steeredultrasonic 2D arrays positioned on four opposing walls;

FIG. 12 shows exemplary embodiments of the software defined acousticradio;

FIG. 13 shows exemplary embodiments with two electronically steeredultrasonic 2D arrays positioned on orthogonal walls;

FIG. 14 is a closeup perspective view of the geometry and field of viewfor two array configuration embodiments;

FIG. 15 depicts a local 2D pressure field of a narrow pressure trap;

FIG. 16 depicts a local 2D pressure field of a narrow pressure trapobtained after 5 fast time phase offsets;

FIG. 17 depicts a local 2D pressure field of a wide pressure trap;

FIG. 18 depicts a local 2D pressure field of a wide pressure trapobtained after 10 fast time phase offsets;

FIG. 19 depicts an example of pressure trap movement by frequencymodulation;

FIG. 20 is an exemplary timing diagram for the cleaning and charge/stircycling;

FIG. 21 is an exemplary timing diagram coordinating current density, 3Dimaging, pressure trap oscillation, and free particle transport; and

FIG. 22 shows exemplary embodiments utilizing an external open box tomount two electronically steered ultrasonic 2D arrays.

In the drawings and detailed description, the same or similar referencenumbers may identify the same or similar elements. It will beappreciated that the implementations, features, etc. described withrespect to embodiments in specific figures may be implemented withrespect to other embodiments in other figures, unless expressly stated,or otherwise not possible.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 shows an exemplary battery system 100 including a battery 200with nominal battery components in a discharge circuit. Current 105I_(L) flows from a positive terminal 207 with a current collector 201passing positive charges from positive electrode (cathode) 202. Anelectrolyte 204 is positioned between a nanopore separator 205 and apositive electrode 202, as well as between the 205 nanopore separatorand the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) 206 on top of a negativeelectrode (anode) 203, which interfaces with the current collector 201with connection to an external circuit and load R_(L) 106 through anegative terminal 208. The load R_(L) 106 may be any type of system,subsystem, apparatus, or device designed to operate on battery power,such as electric air, land, and marine vehicles and mobile, portable,and stationary electrical devices, e.g., computers, tablets, phones,appliances, equipment, systems, etc., and portions thereof.

In various embodiments, the battery 200 may include electronicallysteered ultrasonic arrays (ESUA) 400, as shown in FIG. 2. An exemplaryimplementation of the 400 ESUA is a 2D array of piezo-electricmicromachined ultrasonic transducers (410 PMUT). Exemplary embodimentsof the 400 ESUA is an N row×M column lattice of PMUTs capable ofsupporting 3D beamforming on transmission and reception.

With multiple 400 ESUA and appropriate amplitude, phase and/or timedelay, and frequency steering, a 3D standing acoustic pressure wavepattern may be sculpted for multiple purposes including stirring andparticle transport with movement of a pressure gradient null, orpressure gradient trap, along a desired trajectory.

One or more 1D or 2D 400 ESUA may be positioned in the vicinity of theelectrolyte between the 205 nanopore separator and 206 SEI on thenegative electrode (anode). The one or more 400 ESUAs may be phasecoherent. The ESUAs 400 generate propagating ultrasonic pressure wavesthrough the electrolyte volume. Amplitude, phase and/or time delay, andfrequency steering may be applied to each array to form standing wavefoci at specified 3D locations within the electrolyte volume. Steeringvectors are calculated so that a pressure node, or acoustic pressuretrap, may be formed at one or more foci with a steep 3D pressuregradient surrounding the foci. A small particle, e.g. Li-ion cations,experiences a 3D force vector proportional to the negative pressuregradient at the particle location. The result is particle motion in thedirection of the negative pressure gradient.

Acoustic stirring is the iterative update of the steering vectors tomove the foci and resulting 3D pressure field to sweep the 3Delectrolyte volume. The steering vector locates each focus and resultingpressure field incorporating near and far field propagation losses,attenuation, and reflected energy from high acoustic impedanceboundaries such as battery canister walls, electrolyte/SEI 206/Anode 203interface, and nanopore separator 205. SEI disruption can initiatedendrite growths. Accordingly, the foci and pressure gradients aregenerally located away from the SEI 206 to minimize SEI 206 disruption.

Imaging Dendritic Growths

Exemplary methods for 3-D imaging to estimate dendritic location,morphology, and growth are disclosed. One or more monostatic ormulti-static ESUA 3D sonars 401 and 402 are used to generate highdefinition 3D images in both the near and far-fields. Generally, eachsonar transmits a short pulse to facilitate time of flight rangeestimation. The 2D ESUA 400 aperture forms a 3D transmit beam withassociated electronics to control amplitude, phase and/or time delay,and frequency steering across the 2D array. For reception, element levelreceivers are followed by sampling and downstream digital coherentsignal processing.

The image voxel dimensions are functions of beamwidth (2/N radians by2/M radians) for an N by M array of the 410 PMUTs, and bandwidth. As anexample, consider an ESUA 3D sonar with a PMUT designed for a 100 MHzultrasound carrier. The array is a lattice arrangement of 25 elevationby 100 azimuth PMUTs with a 6 micron (λ/2) pitch. PMUTs are typicallycapable of 25% bandwidth, which may result in an imaging system for thesingle ESUA 3D sonar has a 3D beamwidth of 4.6° in elevation, 1.15° inazimuth with a 24 micron range resolution.

Other realizations of the ESUA 400 with a PMUT N×M array is a sparsearray with 2√N elements in a column and 2√M elements in a row. Theelements may be positioned so that after convolution, or time domainmultiple-in and multiple-out (MIMO), and azimuth to elevationassociation, the effective spatial resolution is equivalent to the fullypopulated N×M array.

As shown in FIG. 3, in various embodiments, two multistatic ESUA sonars,401 ESUA (L) and 402 ESUA (F) may be positioned on orthogonal walls ofthe battery cell 200 with a common field of view (FOV) of the 204electrolyte. The positioning exploits multistatic trilateration toenhance spatial resolution. Each ESUA 401 and 402 is a 25 by 100 PMUTarray (150 by 600 microns), capable of 25% bandwidth on a 100 MHzultrasound carrier frequency. The 305 center voxel in the FOV will havedimensions of (x,y,z)=(24, 35, 140) microns (um) as seen from the 401ESUA (L), while the 310 center voxel has dimensions (x,y,z)=(50, 24,200) microns as seen from the 402 ESUA (F). After joint processing ofboth arrays, the system's 315 center voxel has dimensions (x,y,z)=(24,24, 140) microns.

Some pouch batteries can have a larger electrolyte FOV in the (x,y)plane, typically dimensions are (x,y)=(35, 50) mm. For theseconfigurations' multiple smaller arrays, or subarrays of a largercontiguous conformal array, may be positioned along or inside thebattery cell walls to obtain a joint resolution enhancement.

The morphology of dendritic growths varies from needle-like straight andkinked structures with diameters <1 micron to bulky moss-like structuresspanning tens of microns. While the imaging apparatus example shown inFIG. 3, whose center voxel dimensions of (24, 24, 140) microns are notsufficient to resolve the morphology of the smaller individual dendriticgrowths, estimation of the change in dendritic growth is observed bymeasuring the change in backscatter energy. When voxels are filled withdendrites more energy is reflected compared to empty voxels.

Preemptive Detection of Internal Short Circuits and Battery Shutdown

Battery cell failure and worse, electrolyte ignition may occur whendendrites pierce the nanopore separator with a dendrite bridge fromanode to cathode. The imaging system detects the onset of early and latestage dendritic growths. When the imaging system detects dendriticgrowths in the vicinity of the nanopore separator or other structure inthe cell, the processor may assert a state change indicating an eminentinternal short circuit condition. Detection of a close proximity eventby the 1300 PCNBIR ASIC triggers the processor to configure both the1040 switch and the 1050 switch to the open position to isolate thebattery from both the load and charging circuits disconnecting thebattery from the load, shutting down the battery and preventing adestructive short circuit condition. The processor may also communicatethe state change of the external switch from closed to open, as well asprovide warnings of an approaching state change, to an external displayor device to notify a user of the device employing the battery powersystem.

Inducing Failure in Dendritic Growths

Methods to induce dendrite mechanical failure, by causing a physical andelectrical disconnection, or detachment, of a lithiated deposit growthfrom the negative electrode, are described. The methods integratecharging current density and its modulation with oscillating acousticpressure gradients to shear, or detach, dendrites and other depositsfrom the anode and/or solid electrolyte interface.

Dendrite and Deposit Growths

The ideal lithium metal battery has an absence of non-uniform lithiatedgrowths, i.e., dendrites, at the negative electrode (anode). Inapplication, as shown in FIG. 4, the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI)layer 206 formed between the anode 203 and the electrolyte 204 duringthe first charge cycle as illustrated is typically a heterogenousmultiple phase of reduced salts and inorganics dependent on both anodeand electrolyte composition.

During subsequent charge cycles, positively charged lithium ions alsomigrate toward the negative electrode passing through pores in the SEI.The accumulation of lithium at the negative electrode increases anodepressure. A disruption in the SEI due to anode pressure and/or localnon-isotropic electrochemical conditions may induce a local accumulationof lithium deposits.

The lithium electrodepositions have different morphologies and growthrates dependent on charging current densities and local electrolyte saltconcentration gradients. Three primary morphologies are whisker-like,moss-like, and thin needle-like stalks.

Each morphological class is associated with a range of currentdensities. The current densities for each morphological class aredelineated relative to the diffusion-limited current density, J_(D),where J_(D) is a function of the battery system.

At low charging current densities, J_(a)<J_(L), where J_(L)<J_(D), anSEI induced pressure breakage frequently induces a whisker-like growthfrom the anode. In the salt rich electrolyte an SEI also forms on thewhisker blocking penetration of the separator. At elevated chargingcurrent densities, J_(L)<J_(a)<J_(D), bulbous, kinked whisker, withdense moss-like growths from the anode become widespread but typicallydo not reach the nanopore separator.

At high charging current densities, J_(a)>J_(D), the salt depletedelectrolyte results in rapid, up to hundreds of nanometers per second,dendritic growths manifesting as the 501 thin stalks, tree likestructures with thin blades and sharp tips growths without an SEI coat,as shown in FIG. 5. The skinny, almost needle-like, crystalline lithiumpillars can penetrate a solid polymer or ceramic electrolyte and piercethrough the nanopore separator reducing the battery cell's Coulombic andenergy efficiency. Worse, when the growth forms a bridge betweennegative electrode and cathode, the cell short-circuits leading tothermal runaway, potential ignition of the electrolyte, and batteryfailure.

Strong Dendrites and Weakening Methods

Electro-deposited crystalline lithium pillars with sub-micron diameterare strong with an average yield stress 16 MPa at room temperature, muchhigher than bulk lithium's yield stress of <900 kPa at room temperature.

Lithium's shear modulus is a function of the diameter, size, andcrystallographic orientation and temperature. By briefly manipulatingthe current density profile so that, J_(L)<J_(a)<J_(D) dendritemorphologies are formed with more defects or disorder in theircrystallographic orientations, with frequent kinking. The kinkeddendrites are mechanically weaker than the crystalline needle-likelithium growths. The result is a reduction of yield stress levelsapproaching that of bulk lithium at room temperature, <900 kPa.

Heating further reduces the dendrite's modulus. At elevatedtemperatures, defect kinked laden growths soften with moresusceptibility to plastic deformation. As an example, lithium bulk foilhas a creep stress of >500 kPa at 298 K which reduces to 350 kPa at 400K.

Two methods are simultaneously used to elevate dendrite temperature:one, Joule heating; and two, acoustic energy transfer. Joule heating isobtained by briefly elevating the charging current density. As anexample, in a Li—Li symmetrical coin cell battery, a current density of15 mA/cm2 produced a temperature increase of 40 to 60° C.

As depicted in FIG. 6 and FIG. 7, acoustic energy transfer is realizedby subjecting the actively growing dendrite 601 to oscillatoryacoustically generated pressured gradients with antipodal forces. A trapsurrounded by pressure gradients may be formed by acoustically generatedstanding waves. Oscillating pressure gradients are then realized byoscillation of the trap position. The standing wave pressure null ispositioned in the vicinity of the one, or more active dendrites 601.Then the pressure null location is moved so that the full pressuregradient is repeatedly swept back and forth across the dendrite's fixedlocation. The alternating pressure gradient creates forces 602 that leadto a plastic deformation in the dendrite 601 with heat production.

FIG. 7 shows example configurations for local acoustic stirring, oroscillation of an acoustic trap. One 704 PMUT is positioned on thebattery cell's left interior wall, another 705 PMUT is positioned on thebattery cell's right interior wall, both faces immersed in the 204electrolyte with directivity oriented towards each other through theelectrolyte. The 701 oscillator drives the 704 PMUT and the 702oscillator drives the 705 PMUT. The 701 oscillator has frequency f_(L1)and phase θ_(L1) while the 702 oscillator has frequency f_(R1) and phaseθ_(R1).

Local acoustic stirring is obtained by sweeping the 701 oscillatorfrequency from f_(L1) to f_(L2), where f_(L2)>f_(L1) with the 702oscillator frequency and phase locked with the 701 oscillator frequencyand phase. The 706 acoustically generated standing pressure wave has the707 pressure anti-nodes and 708 pressure nodes.

At f_(L1) the pressure at position A in the electrolyte is high relativeto position B, so the region between AB experiences a pressure gradientor force along AB. At f_(L2), the pressure at position A is low relativeto position B so the region between AB experiences a pressure gradientor force along BA. During a sweep from f_(L1) to f_(L2) a dendritelocated at x=(A+B)/2 experiences a force first along AB then along BA asthe pressure node moves from B to A. Another one of many variants oflocal acoustic stirring maintains the frequencies,f_(L1)=f_(R1)=f_(L2)=f_(R2) and but changes only the 702 oscillatorphase θ_(L1)=θ_(R1)=θ_(L2)<θ_(R2).

Dendrite shear failure, a mechanical disconnection, or detachment, fromthe negative electrode, occurs when the shear modulus of the weakenedkinked temperature softened dendrite falls below the forces generated bythe alternating pressure gradients. As an example, a 450 kPa pressuregradient can be formed in the vicinity of a focal point in water with asuitable PMUT array in transmission at 10 MHz.

The sheared, or disconnected, dendrite contributes to the pool oflithium deposits that are no longer electrically and electrochemicallycoupled to the bulk lithium negative electrode. The latter comprise theso-called dead lithium, or more generally, dead metal.

Dead Metal Accumulation and Movement to Graveyard

Dead lithium is also formed during the normal charge/discharge orlithiation plate/strip cycle. During the discharge cycle, with lithiumdissolution back into the electrolyte, some growths may thinsufficiently to cleave electrically and mechanically from the negativeelectrode. The disconnection turns active lithium growths into deadlithium.

FIG. 8 illustrates dead lithium accumulation in which dead lithium 602creates a convoluted, or tortuous, path for lithium ions to travelthrough to reach the underlying 206 SEI during the charge cycle. Withsuccessive layering of dead lithium during each charge/discharge cycle,the ion diffusion coefficient is reduced. A consequence is that an ionconcentration gradient is formed limiting voltage charging range with areduction in battery cell capacity.

Another aspect of the present invention involves methods that moves the602 dead lithium to a location to reduce the loss of battery cellcapacity. One location for the 901 graveyard is the outer edge of thenegative electrode near the SEI/battery case transition.

Acoustic 3D traps are used to capture a subset of the dead lithiumdisconnected from the negative electrode. The acoustic trap is a 3Dacoustic pressure null surrounded by high pressure with a steep pressuregradient in each space-dimension. One or more of the multistatic 400ESUAs are used to sculpt and locate the 3D pressure trap on thedisconnected dead lithium to be moved. An obstruction free 3D trajectoryto the sidewall edge is calculated from acoustic multistatic 3D imaging.The 3D trap position is moved along the trajectory to the graveyardalong an obstruction free path. The trajectory's time profile accountsfor particle drag in the 204 electrolyte viscosity.

Exemplary methods for transport of a dead lithium particle to agraveyard or edge of the battery cell are shown in FIG. 9. A 3D acoustictrap, or pressure node, is formed in the vicinity of the 602 deadlithium particle then moved away from 206 SEI on the 910 path tominimize disturbance to the SEI, transported along the 915 obstructionfree path in the 204 electrolyte, and then moved along the 920 pathtoward the 930 graveyard located at the edge between the 206 SEI andbattery cell wall.

Exemplary embodiments of the battery system 100 including battery 200during cell charging are shown in FIG. 10. The 1010 external supplyprovides power to the system. A 1020 programmable constant currentsource (PCCS) sources the 1030 proportional current density J_(a)through the 1040 closed switch to the 207 positive terminal of the 200battery cell with the 1050 switch in open position to isolate the 106load from the cell. The 1060 switch may be closed to supply externalpower to the 106 load. The 1020 PCCS accepts real time set pointscommands from one or more processors 1300, which serves as a currentcontroller, trap/beam controller, and image renderer (PCNBIR), which maybe implemented in one or more ASICs. Two ESUA sonars, the 401 ESUA (L)and the 403 ESUA (R) are coupled to the 200 battery cell interior wallin the region between the 205 nanopore separator and the 206 negativeelectrode. Each ESUA has analog interfaces with a 1410 software definedacoustic radio (SDAR). Each 1410 SDAR is controlled by and returns datato the 1300 PCNBIR ASIC.

Other embodiments may couple four 400 ESUA apertures (Left, Right,Front, Back), to the 200 battery, as shown in FIG. 11. The 200 battery,top view looking down in the −z direction from the 205 nanoporeseparator into the 204 electrolyte toward the 206 SEI coated 203negative electrode. The four 401 ESUA (L) 402 ESUA (F) 403 ESUA (R) and404 ESUA (B) are coupled to the electrolyte 204 through an impedancematching layer in the battery wall. All four ESUAs are controlled byphase coherent signals from four separate 1410 SDARs. The four, phasecoherent, ESUAs create acoustic pressure waves in the electrolyteforming standing wave patterns with pressure nodes and antinodes.

The 1410 SDAR may have two transmission modes, and one receive mode. Onetransmission mode is to support formation of an acoustic trap, orpressure null, to wiggle, break, and capture dead lithium at a specified3D position in the electrolyte. The second transmission mode supportssonar 3D imaging of dendritic growths and dead lithium by forming a highgain beam with low sidelobes at a specified azimuth and elevation anglewith a short transmit pulse. The receive mode of the SDAR 1410 supportssonar 3D imaging to detect and observe morphological changes in live anddead lithium deposits on the 203 negative electrode. The joint 3D imageproduct across all 1410 SDARs is formed by image rendering logic insidethe 1300 PCNBIR ASIC.

Exemplary embodiments of the 1410 SDAR are shown in FIG. 12. To form anacoustic trap at a specified location, the 1300 PCNBIR ASIC issuesdigital words containing the 3D trap position, 3D trap width, and trapduration, to the 1415 Trap/Beam Position ASIC within the 1410 SDAR. The1415 Trap/Beam Position ASIC calculates the triplet of amplitude, phaseand/or time delay and frequency steering vector for each of the N×M 410PMUTs as well as the transmission period. These quantities are passed toa 1420 direct digital synthesizer (DDS) to generate the correspondingdigital time domain waveform. The digital output of the 1420 directdigital synthesizer (DDS) drives a 1425 digital to analog converter(DAC) generating an analog time domain signal with the amplitude, phaseand/or time delay, and frequency that originated from the 1415 Trap/BeamPosition ASIC. The analog signal is filtered by the 1430 bandpassfilter, and then increased in power by the 1435 amplifier. The powerboosted signal enters the 1440 switch on the 1440 switch's Tx inputport. The Trap/Beam Controller inside the 1300 PCNBIR ASIC has set the1440 Switch in transmit mode providing a matching impedance low losspath between the 1440 Switch Tx input port and the 1440 Switch Tx outputport. The result is a low loss path between the 1435 amplifier and theTx input port of the PMUT(1,1) of the 400 ESUA. The PMUT's piezoelectricmembranes flex in response to the time varying voltage signal generatinga propagating acoustic pressure wave in the 204 electrolyte.

Methods to support imaging may employ a high gain beam with lowsidelobes. The same hardware and similar methods are employed. Thedifference is that the Beam Control function inside the 1300 PCNBIR ASICspecifies azimuth and elevation angles along with pulse width and pulserepetition interval as digital words passed to the 1415 Trap/BeamPosition ASIC. The latter calculates the amplitude, phase and/or timedelay and frequency steering vector with transmission pulse width foreach of the N×M PMUTs to obtain the designated azimuth and elevationangle beam position. The latter quantities configure each of the 1420DDS's to generate a digital time domain waveform. The latter isconverted to a short pulse analog time domain waveform by the 1425 DAC,then 1430 bandpass filtered, and power boosted by the 1435 amplifierwhich is coupled to the Tx input port of the PMUT(1,1) by the 1440Switch set to transmit mode with resulting PMUT pressure wave generationin the 1204 electrolyte.

For either transmission mode, the N×M PMUTs may be driven with their ownunique steering components of amplitude, phase and/or time delay, andfrequency. The digital and analog time domain waveforms may be madephase coherent with a common 1410 SDAR clock from the 1460 SDAR Timingand Clock Distribution ASIC coupled to the 1420 DDS and 1425 DAC. Theresult is that the N by M PMUTs form a space and time domain phasecoherent pressure wave propagating into the electrolyte 204.

The 1460 SDAR Timing and Clock Distribution ASIC conditions anddistributes the timing and the primary oscillator clock signalsoriginating from the 1300 PCNBIR ASIC. The timing signals may include atransmit pulse envelope, and pulse repetition interval start/stopenvelope.

During reception to develop 3D images the 1300 PCNBIR ASIC sets the 1440Switch in the 1410 SDAR into the receive configuration. The receiveconfiguration couples the Rx port from PMUT(1,1) to the Rx(1,1) portthrough an impedance matched low loss path to an input of the 1465 lownoise amplifier. An output of the amplifier may be low pass filtered bya 1470 low pass filter, then digitized by the 1475 analog to digitalconverter (ADC). A digital stream is passed from the ADC 1475 to one ormore digital receivers inside a 1480 N×M digital receiver andbeamforming ASIC. The digital receiver 1480 forms a phase and amplitudeestimate for each sample. In this same manner the N×M PMUT receivesignals may be sampled simultaneously presenting amplitude and phasemeasurements to the digital beamformer. The digital beamformermultiplies the N×M received measurement matrix by a matched filtermatrix forming N elevation beams by M azimuth beams for each timesample. The 1485 range normalized image former ASIC estimates the normof each of the N×M beam sample to estimate signal magnitude. The data isconverted from spherical to cartesian coordinates, collected across alltime/ranges associated with the FOV and converted to a 3-D rangenormalized image matrix.

Referring to FIG. 12, the 1300 PCNBIR ASIC may calculate a non-coherent3D image product from the collection of 3-D range normalized imagematrices returned from each 1410 SDAR and their associated 400 ESUAs.Each 400 ESUA may have a different view of the 204 electrolyte FOV. Theresult may be a joint image product with a higher 3D resolution andcontrast ratio than provided by any single 400 ESUA. The processor 1300may use the 3D images to locate dendrite growths and plan the trappositions and obstruction free trajectories.

Other embodiments reduce or increase the number of ESUAs, their shapes,and their locations. The number of ESUAs can vary from unity to a highcount. The ESUAs may also be conformal arrays positioned inside oroutside the battery cell. They may be positioned on the currentcollector side of the anode or cathode, or external to the battery cell,or inside the battery wall adjacent to the electrolyte separating the206 SEI and 205 nanopore separator. Ultrasonic reflective or absorptivematerials that are electrochemically neutral may be used to alterpressure wave propagation characteristics to promote sculpting of theacoustic pressure field with pre-calculated steering vectors at eachPMUT. These alternative embodiments and other variants will be readilyapparent to those skilled in the art as reviewing this description.

Exemplary embodiments employing only two 400 ESUAs are shown in FIG. 13.The FOV may be 300 um in height (z), 5 mm (x), and by 5 mm (y). The twoESUAs may be centered on the sidewalls of the battery cell with at leastone face immersed in the electrolyte 204. In this example, the ESUA 400face geometry may be 120 um in height by 600 um in x or y with a fullypopulated 2D array of 20 by 50 PMUTs in elevation (z) and azimuth (x ory). The two ESUAs may operate at 100 MHz center frequency to generateacoustic pressure waves in the electrolyte and form standing wavepatterns with pressure nodes and antinodes. An exemplary closeup of theESUA geometry and FOV of the electrolyte volume between the 204 nanoporeseparator and 206 SEI layer on the 203 negative electrode for a nominalpouch style battery cell is depicted in FIG. 14.

Trap Formation and Positioning Methods

Different types of trap pressure morphologies assist acoustic stirring,dendrite flexure for energy transfer and shear failure, and particlemovement. Non-local acoustic stirring is efficient with a broad pressurenull to sweep the full FOV. Likewise moving a large volume of suspendedparticles with a broad pressure null is also efficient. On the otherhand, steep gradients have both pressure and force advantages withlocalized dendrite flexing to induce dendrite failure. The spatialcontainment of a steep and narrow pressure trap accommodates isolationof, and movement of, free particles suspended in smaller volumes.

Many methods are available for calculating the steering vector for adesired trap position. Various methods involve finding a near-fieldsteering vector for each ESUA that results in a zero-magnitude phasor atthe desired trap position. A virtual omni-directional single wavelengthemitter with a fixed phase and desired magnitude may be placed at trap's3D location. The virtual complex pressure signal may be propagated,backward, through the environment, including attenuation, spreadinglosses and multipath, to each PMUT. The unweighted steering complexphasor for a specific PMUT has a phase equal to the conjugate of thepath phase change and magnitude as the reciprocal of the path lossmagnitude normalized by the number of PMUTs. The steering vector acrossall PMUTs may be calculated as the Hadamard product of the unweightedsteering vector with an apodization weight vector whose mean has beenset to zero.

An example of the 2D pressure field with the 1510 narrow trap is shownin FIG. 15. The 1501 trap is positioned at (x, y, z)=(1.5, −1.4, 0.0) mmfor the system shown in FIG. 14. These methods typically produce a steepand narrow pressure gradient surrounding the trap position but has someundesirable 1520 local minima in the trap neighborhood.

Other methods may be used to reduce the nearby local minima andartifacts. For example, a common mode phase shift offset, as a functionof fast time relative to particle drag, may be applied across the fullsteering vector for some, but not all, of the ESUAs, such as ESUA (F)402. The non-coherent relative pressure associated with the magnitudeaverage over 5 random phase offsets, shown in FIG. 16, has a substantialreduction in local minima and artifacts with negligible changes to the1610 trap position, steepness, and depth.

One or more wide, or variable volume, traps may be generated usingadaptive beamforming techniques to form arbitrarily wide nulls in afilled beam space for each ESUA. First a desired trap region is defined.Next a collection of azimuthal and elevation main lobe beam anglesrequired from each ESUA to cover the trap region are estimated. Eachbeam angle inside the trap region has at least one associated trapsteering vector. Next fill beam angles, the complement of the trap beamangles, and their associated steering vectors are calculated. The totalsteering vector is the product of the inverse covariance of the sum ofthe trap beam steering vectors times the sum of the fill beam steeringvectors.

The 3D intersection of the trap, or null beam widths, between two ormore ESUA arrays, subject to the propagation environment, defines the 3Dtrap dimensions. Propagation may include multipath, spreading losses,and attenuation effects, if desired.

An example of the 2D pressure field with the 1710 wide trap is shown inFIG. 17. The center of the wide acoustic trap may be positioned at (x,y, z)=(2.0, 1.0, 0.0) mm for the system shown in FIG. 14.

These methods may have 1720 local minima and artifacts in the vicinityof the wide trap. A previously described a common phase shift offset asa function of fast time relative to particle drag may be applied to thesteering vector for only the 402 ESUA (F) to reduce unwanted minima andartifacts.

Non-coherent relative pressure associated with the magnitude averageover 10 phase offsets is shown in FIG. 18. A substantial reduction inlocal minima and artifacts has negligible changes to the 1810 trapposition, breadth, and depth.

Example Embodiment of Trap Wiggle

Dendrite flexure may be facilitated by wiggling or oscillating the trapposition. In fast time, the wiggle may be implemented with sinusoidalfrequency modulation (SFM). The SFM may be realized by passingsinusoidal ΔFM parameters (ΔHz and ΔT, ΔFM=ΔHz/ΔT) from the 1415Trap/Beam Position ASIC to the 1420 DDS. The 1420 DDS calculates thevoltage for the time dependent instantaneous frequency and outputs asinusoidal FM time domain digital waveform at the DDS's sample rate tothe 1425 DAC. An analog waveform output by the DAC 1425 may be filteredand amplified before transduction by the PMUT to pressure waves.

An example of wiggle or oscillation of the acoustic trap position by SFMis shown in FIG. 19. The trap is centered at (x,y,z)=(1.203, −0.204, 0)mm. A 29.5 MHz bandwidth on an 85.22 MHz center frequency in the ESUA(F) oscillates the wide acoustic trap by 200 microns in the x-dimension.FIG. 19 also shows the 1910 trap position at 100 MHz and the 1920 trapposition at 70.5 MHz.

Acoustic stirring and clean cycling may be activated when external powerto the battery system is present. A 2010 clean cycle may be initiatedfirst, followed by the nominal 2020 charge cycle with simultaneousacoustic stirring as depicted in FIG. 20.

At the completion of a discharge cycle, electrodeposits have beenstripped and thinned and are susceptible to Joule heating and energytransfer. The onset of external power, sensed by the 1300 PCNBIR ASIC,triggers the start sequence of the 2010 clean cycle.

First the 1300 PCNBIR ASIC sets the 1050 switch to open to isolate the106 load from the battery cell followed by closing the 1040 switch tocouple the 1020 PCCS to the 207 positive terminal of the battery cell.Next 3D imaging is performed to identify local 3D volumes to clean.Sub-regions may be prioritized based on backscatter returns correlatedwith dendrite density. During the 2110 imaging sub-cycle, as shown inFIG. 21, the 1030 charging current density, J_(a), may be set so thatJ_(L)<J_(a)<J_(D), to promote kinked, defect laden and weakenedmoss-like dendrite growths. Next the current density may be briefly 2115increased to J_(a)>J_(D), to Joule heat the dendrites resulting intemperature-induced softening of the dendrite. Simultaneous with theJoule heating, a narrow deep pressure trap 2120 may be oscillated at thearea being cleaned. After a prescribed time, the current density may bezeroed and a wide pressure trap 2130 may be employed to capture andtransport broken dendrites, dead-lithium and other particles to thegraveyard. This process may be repeated until all the problem areas haveundergone a clean cycle or for a fixed or variable duration at fixed orvariable time intervals.

After clean cycle completion a charge/stir cycle may be commenced bysetting the current density so that J_(a)<J_(D). Simultaneously, a widetrap region may be swept over the full volume between the nanoporeseparator and SEI/anode surface to acoustically stir the electrolyte204. Stirring may be performed during the charge cycle to promoteelectrolyte electrochemical isotropy, which is meant to minimize thelikelihood of dendritic growth initiation.

In view of the present description, one of skill in the art should beable employ many embodiment variations of the disclosed systems,apparatuses, and methods to achieve various objectives.

The imaging mode may be used to sense dendrite proximity to the nanoporeseparator. Detection of a close proximity event may be used to triggeran external switch to isolate the battery from the load and chargingcircuits.

A sparse imaging mode may be exploited to compensate for dendriteblockages of monostatic or multistatic 400 ESUA arrays. Convolution, ortime domain MIMO, between geographically diverse sparse subarrays, withBoolean association, may be used to select subarrays of the 400 ESUAarray that are not blocked. Similarly, geographically diverse subarraysare selected to exploit multipath effects, such as reflections from thebattery cell wall, to see around blockages.

Other embodiments may position multiple, or conformal, 400 ESUA on anexternal surface outside the battery cell. In FIG. 22, two 400 ESUAs aremounted to a mounting structure 2210 that places the ESUAs 400 in closeproximity to the battery cell 2220. Each 400 ESUA has acoustic impedancematching to couple acoustic energy through the structure 2210 throughthe battery cell wall and into the 204 electrolyte. This embodimentminimizes changes to the battery cell itself, reducing manufacturingcosts. For example, the system 100 with the structure 2210 may beimplemented in mobile phones, computers, and other devices and vehicleswithout changing the battery design. In addition, the system 100 may beimplemented in charging stations for existing and new battery designs.

Other lower cost embodiments of the present invention may be envisionedby one of ordinary skill in the art. For example, the imaging functionmay be eliminated entirely from the system. Instead each area of theanode undergoes a cleaning cycle for a fixed duration, independent ofthe presence or absence of dendritic growths. This reduces the gatecount in the 1410 SDAR ASIC and software complexity in the 1300 PCNBIRASIC. In addition, the transducers in the ESUA may be CMUTs instead ofPMUTs. Acoustic stirring, anode cleaning, and dendrite failure methodsmay also be combined with other techniques to reduce dendrite initiationand growth and facilitate dendrites removal. For example, other methodsinclude electrolyte composition and additives that minimize dendriteinitiation and growth, and promote defects in crystalline growths tolower their shear moduli. Scaffold/mesh E-field sculpting may beemployed to align the orientation of dendritic growths in one plane tosimplify coupling with oscillating force resonance.

The disclosed apparatus and method are applicable to any batterycathode/anode liquid electrolyte system that exhibits charge cycleelectrodeposition on the anode. For example, the present invention maybe employed with battery systems based on lithium, potassium, sodium,magnesium, copper, or zinc ions. Anode types include bulk lithium,graphite, graphite combined with silicon-metal alloys such as SiO_(x),TiO_(x), and NiO_(x), and transition metal oxides such as Cr₂O₃, MnO₂,Fe₂O₃, Co₃O₄, CuO. Cathodes types include lithium nickel cobaltmanganese oxide (NMC), lithium iron phosphate (LFP), lithium nickelmanganese spinel (LNMO), lithium nickel cobalt aluminum oxide (NCA),lithium manganese oxide (LMO), and lithium cobalt oxide (LCO).

The foregoing disclosure provides examples, illustrations anddescriptions of the present invention, but is not intended to beexhaustive or to limit the implementations to the precise formdisclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of theabove disclosure or may be acquired from practice of theimplementations. These and other variations and modifications of thepresent invention are possible and contemplated, and it is intended thatthe foregoing specification and the following claims cover suchmodifications and variations.

As used herein, the term component is intended to be broadly construedas hardware, firmware, and/or a combination of hardware and software. Itwill be apparent that systems and/or methods, described herein, may beimplemented in different forms of hardware, firmware, or a combinationof hardware and software. The actual specialized control hardware orsoftware code used to implement these systems and/or methods is notlimiting of the implementations. Thus, the operation and behavior of thesystems and/or methods were described herein without reference tospecific software code—it being understood that software and hardwarecan be designed to implement the systems and/or methods based on thedescription herein.

Various elements of the system may employ various levels of photonic,electrical, and mechanical integration. Multiple functions may beintegrated on one or more ASICs or modules.

Processors may range, for example, from general-purpose processors andCPUs to field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) to application specificintegrated circuit (ASICs). Software modules (executed on hardware) maybe expressed in a variety of software languages (e.g., computer code),including C, C++, Java™, JavaScript, Rust, Go, Scala, Ruby, VisualBasic™, FORTRAN, Haskell, Erlang, and/or other object-oriented,procedural, or other programming language and development tools.Computer code may include micro-code or micro-instructions, machineinstructions, such as produced by a compiler, code used to produce a webservice, and files containing higher-level instructions that areexecuted by a computer using an interpreter and employ control signals,encrypted code, and compressed code.

Some implementations are described herein in connection with thresholds.As used herein, satisfying a threshold may refer to a value beinggreater than the threshold, more than the threshold, higher than thethreshold, greater than or equal to the threshold, less than thethreshold, fewer than the threshold, lower than the threshold, less thanor equal to the threshold, equal to the threshold, etc.

Certain user interfaces have been described herein and/or shown in thefigures. A user interface may include a graphical user interface, anon-graphical user interface, a text-based user interface, etc. A userinterface may provide information for display. In some implementations,a user may interact with the information, such as by providing input viaan input component of a device that provides the user interface fordisplay. In some implementations, a user interface may be configurableby a device and/or a user (e.g., a user may change the size of the userinterface, information provided via the user interface, a position ofinformation provided via the user interface, etc.). Additionally, oralternatively, a user interface may be pre-configured to a standardconfiguration, a specific configuration based on a type of device onwhich the user interface is displayed, and/or a set of configurationsbased on capabilities and/or specifications associated with a device onwhich the user interface is displayed.

Even though particular combinations of features are recited in theclaims and/or disclosed in the specification, these combinations are notintended to limit the disclosure of possible implementations. In fact,many of these features may be combined in ways not specifically recitedin the claims and/or disclosed in the specification. Although eachdependent claim listed below may directly depend on only one claim, thedisclosure of possible implementations includes each dependent claim incombination with every other claim in the claim set.

No element, act, or instruction used herein should be construed ascritical or essential unless explicitly described as such. Also, as usedherein, the articles “a” and “an” are intended to include one or moreitems and may be used interchangeably with “one or more”. Furthermore,as used herein, the term “set” is intended to include one or more itemsand may be used interchangeably with “one or more”. Where only one itemis intended, the term “one” or similar language is used. Also, as usedherein, the terms “has,” “have,” “having,” or the like are intended tobe open-ended terms. Further, the phrase “based on” is intended to mean“based, at least in part, on” unless explicitly stated otherwise.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of operating a battery comprising:providing a battery including a cell containing an electrolyte, acathode positioned in the cell with an electrical connection to outsidethe cell, an anode positioned in the cell with an electrical connectionto outside the cell and separated from the cathode by the electrolyte;connecting electrically at least one current source between the cathodeand anode; positioning at least one electronically steered ultrasonicarray (ESUA) to provide acoustic energy proximate at least the anode;and controlling, via a processor, the at least one current source tomodulate the current relative to a charging current for the battery tovary a morphology of at least one dendrite growing on the anode topromote dendrite failure without melting the at least one dendrite, andthe at least one ESUA to transfer acoustic energy to the at least onedendrite growing on the anode via at least one acoustic pressure trapproximate the at least one dendrite to induce failure of the at leastone dendrite.
 2. The method of claim 1, where: controlling furtherincludes: controlling the at least one ESUA to produce acoustic stirringof electrolyte.
 3. The method of claim 2, where: acoustic stirring isproduced by controlling the at least one ESUA to vary the acousticpressure gradient in the electrolyte.
 4. The method of claim 1, where:controlling includes controlling the at least one ESUA to produce atleast one pressure trap proximate the anode.
 5. The method of claim 4,where: the at least one pressure trap is produced proximate a wall ofthe cell.
 6. The method of claim 4, where: the at least one pressuretrap is produced by producing a corresponding acoustic pressure null. 7.The method of claim 4, where: controlling includes controlling the atleast one ESUA to produce an acoustic pressure gradient between a firstlocation proximate the anode and at least one of the pressure traps. 8.The method of claim 1, where: controlling includes controlling the atleast one current source to induce dendrite failure by Joule heating. 9.The method of claim 1, where: controlling includes controlling the atleast one current source to promote dendrite failure by producing acurrent density to promote at least one of structural defects and kinksin the dendrite to produce lower shear moduli.
 10. The method of claim1, where: controlling includes controlling the at least one ESUA toproduce acoustic energy transfer by oscillation of a pressure trapformed with steep pressure gradients proximate the anode.
 11. The methodof claim 1, where: controlling includes controlling the at least oneESUA to image electrodeposits and growths on and proximate to the anode.12. The method of claim 11, where: the processor is further to: controlthe at least one ESUA to produce an acoustic pressure gradient based onthe image.
 13. The method of claim 11, where: controlling includescontrolling the at least one ESUA to produce an acoustic pressuregradient to provide a transport path to a dead lithium graveyard basedon the image.
 14. The method of claim 1, where: controlling includescontrolling the at least one current source to adjust charging currentto the cathode to promote defects and kinking in crystalline growths.15. The method of claim 1, where the at least one electronically steeredultrasonic array (ESUA) is positioned outside the cell.
 16. The methodof claim 1, where controlling includes controlling the opening andclosing of an external switch electrically connected between the anodeand the cathode external to the cell based on dendrite growth.
 17. Themethod of claim 1, where: controlling includes controlling the at leastone ESUA to use adaptive beamforming to make arbitrarily wide null beamsby multistatic intersections of the null beams.
 18. The method of claim1, where the anode is comprised at least one of bulk lithium, graphite,graphite combined with silicon-metal alloys such as SiO_(x), TiO_(x),and NiO_(x), and transition metal oxides such as Cr₂O₃, MnO₂, Fe₂O₃,Co₃O₄, and CuO, and the cathode is comprised of at least one of lithiumnickel cobalt manganese oxide (NMC), lithium iron phosphate (LFP),lithium nickel manganese spinel (LNMO), lithium nickel cobalt aluminumoxide (NCA), lithium manganese oxide (LMO), and lithium cobalt oxide(LCO).
 19. A method of operating a battery comprising: providing abattery including a cell containing an electrolyte, a cathode positionedin the cell with an electrical connection to outside the cell, an anodepositioned in the cell with an electrical connection to outside the celland separated from the cathode by the electrolyte; providing at leastone electronically steered ultrasonic array (ESUA) to provide acousticenergy inside the cell; and controlling, via a processor, the at leastone ESUA to produce at least one pressure trap to transport at least onefailed dendrite away from the anode.
 20. The method of claim 19, where:controlling further includes controlling the at least one ESUA tooscillate the position of the pressure trap to produce dendrite flexure.21. The method of claim 19, where: the pressure trap is produced with asteep gradient to induce dendrite flexure.
 22. The method of claim 19,where: the pressure trap produced is narrow with a steep gradient toproduce movement of free particles suspended in smaller volumes of theelectrolyte.
 23. The method of claim 19, where: controlling furtherincludes controlling the at least one ESUA to position and at least oneof sweep and oscillate the pressure traps in a 3D volume of electrolyte.24. The method of claim 19, where: controlling further includescontrolling the at least one ESUA to oscillate acoustically generatedpressured gradients transfer acoustic energy to the dendrite.
 25. Themethod of claim 19, where: controlling further includes controlling atleast one ESUA to use adaptive beamforming techniques to formarbitrarily wide nulls in a filled beam space to form variable volumepressure traps.
 26. The method of claim 19, where: controlling the atleast one current source to promote dendrite failure by Joule heating.27. A method of operating a battery comprising: providing a batteryincluding a cell containing an electrolyte, a cathode positioned in thecell with an electrical connection to outside the cell, an anodepositioned in the cell with an electrical connection to outside the celland separated from the cathode by the electrolyte; connectingelectrically at least one current source between the cathode and anode;and controlling, via a processor, the at least one current source tomodulate the current relative to a charging current for the battery toweaken at least one dendrite growing on the anode to promote dendritefailure without melting the dendrite.
 28. The method of claim 27, where:controlling further includes controlling at least one ESUA to oscillateacoustically generated pressured gradients with antipodal forcesproximate a dendrite to produce acoustic energy transfer to thedendrite.
 29. The method of claim 27, where: controlling includescontrolling the at least one current source to adjust charging currentto the cathode to lower a dendrite shear modulus below forces generatedby alternating pressure gradients proximate the dendrite produced by atleast one ESUA.